Here is a look at this week’s podcast: How To Plant A Cover Crop In Your Garden This Fall. Just click on the episode button below to listen in, or read on to discover how and why a cover crop can protect your garden’s soil this winter, and just how simple it is to plant and maintain!
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Show Outline / Show Notes
Introduction : How we have been using a cover crop to build our garden soil for years.
Not only does a cover crop build soil nutrients, it also helps protect the soil. Especially from the harsh winds, rain and snow of winter. In fact, up to 1/8th of the soil can be lost to erosion in the garden over winter.
Why & How A Cover Crop Helps Your Garden
Protects the soil from erosion
Protects from weeds taking over the soil
Keeps weed seeds from blowing in – next year’s weeds!
Build soil strength and also nutrient levels (some even fix nitrogen levels)
Common Misconceptions about Cover Crops
- hard to plant
- expensive
- have to till them in
How To Plant A Cover Crop
- clearing the garden
- raking
- sowing the seed
- watering in
- protecting with a thin layer of mulch ( Leaves, straw or shredded leaves)
Maintaining The Cover Crop Through Fall
- little need to mow or water
- dormancy stage
Spring Cover Crop Care
- mowing off to kill the cover crop is not only easy, but efficient compared to tilling
- tilling under vs. planting through the soil
QUESTION OF THE WEEK : Myra from Connecticut asks “I have heard you talk about planting through the dying cover crop for transplants, but isn’t it hard to do for seed crops?”
- planting row crops is not only simple, it is easier to keep weed free
- planting transplant crops
- mulching over the cover crop
The Annual Cycle Of A Cover Crop In A No Till Garden
- how to replant in the fall again
- little need for added nutrients to soil
- using a cover crop in the summer or for a living mulch
CONCLUSION